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It always fascinates me to discover what people save and collect. Perhaps it is just a dysfunction of mine... but I love the whole psychology behind it. Shows like "Clean House" and "Hoarders" are a guilty pleasure of my TV watching time...

One of the things my mother and I have been doing is going thru clothing and personal items of my dad's... and packing up some things that might be beneficial to someone else. And in the process... I am re-discovering weird and wonderful things about my dad. For example... he loved to dress well. Not that he was vain or anything... far from it. But he had a certain pride in his appearance and liked to be clean, and pressed, and presentable. ((None of this ... shorts hanging out of his pants... which are down to his knees... kind of thing like you see some people dressing like.)) He had a ton of ties. He used cloth handkerchiefs. His socks matched his outfit. He actually shined his shoes. Yah, I know.

And it got me thinking about what we all collect and save... and how it reflects on our personalities so very strongly. I would not classify myself as a hoarder... but there are certain things that I can't get rid of either. I know... shocking. I have a deep love of fabrics and threads and buttons and such. I am sure this comes from my grandmother... who not only could sew anything she laid her eyes on... but often did. I keep old books. I justify keeping them to myself by saying they are reference material for art... but in reality... I just love old books. I get this from both my grandmother and my father. And I am obsessed with little bits and bobs and little anythings that I can potentially make into jewelry. I can't help it. My daughter jokes with me that it is because (in the Chinese zodiac)... I am a dragon.. and dragons love to hoard all kinds of shiny things... and she very well could be right. Who knows where I get that from... but it is definitely ME.

*photos by Elaine A. Russell

250:365

The thing about family..... there are good points and bad points..... and you always have lots of examples to choose from. Today I went to visit a cousin-once-removed... henceforth known as "TT".... and we got to talking about family. Ours is a family of "collectors"... (shall we say)... everything from books... to paper ephemera... to clothes... to fabric... to "things that might be useful to someone someday..." We run the gamut. And at some point... one has to shake their head and wonder where all this stuff came from. We all do it to some degree.
We come by it honestly, and well meaningly. I personally, think it goes back to our Irish heritage (on my father's side)... and the notion that we can fix up most anything... especially things that other people... *dare I say... normal people* ...throw out. And... we occasionally do... which is why we accumulate so much of the stuff.... because we have had some degree of success in the past. It is actually a compliment to my forefathers and mothers... that they were talented enough to make something out of virtually nothing.

And so... TT and I got to going thru stuff and organizing it a little... and we had fun talking about heritage... genetics.... family quirks.... and such. It was great.

*photos by Elaine A. Russell

About the photos for today's post: I took these photos about a week ago. They were taken on a farm just outside of town... and it is so very picturesque there... right out of a Rockwell painting. The sun was setting on the fields... and the cows... who may have thought I had food (sorry gals)... started heading up towards the fence line where I was...

and allowed me to take their photos.

I know. It has nothing to do with what I wrote... I just thought they were cute.

Stuff and more stuff

-------------------------photo by Elaine A. Russell

I started listing items on Ebay in 1998 as a way of getting rid of excess items. When I "retired" from being an RN just a few years ago, I started really going through a lot of our accumulated STUFF and selling it.

The past few weeks have sort of been a final hurrah on that quest. I am now officially "down" to just my needlework supplies and stuff, my photographs that need sorted and stored on disc, and tons and tons of fabric.

The needlework stuff won't be too bad. While I used to be very good at it (and won ribbons).. I just don't do it that much anymore.

The photos are going to be time consuming because I have so very many photos, and I would like to save them all to disc so that I can organize them better.

The fabric is going to be extremely hard. A lot of it was my grandmothers, and it was passed to my sister... and now it is mine (mine sister passed away almost 2yrs ago). There are quilts that were started, and projects left unfinished. I feel compelled to keep and finish it all.. and yet I know that I probably never will. And there is a ton. Like 30 of the really big 48 gallon tubs worth.

Some of the fabric I will no doubt save. Some I hope to cut into squares for a future quilt. Most I will unload. I am going to try to go through a tub a day until I am done. In the meantime.... does anyone know of a charity that saves fabric to use in projects ?